GMA

On July 28, the Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo delivered her State of the Nation Address (SONA) to the House of Representatives in Quezon City. We had the privilege of watching the SONA on big screen during a three-day conference called "SIPA". "SIPA" stands for "State of the Indigenous Peoples' Address", a gathering of people from different indigenous groups who have a thing or two to say about Arroyo's policy towards national minorities. "sipa" also means 'kick' in Tagalog, so apparently the conference was meant to be a kick in the ass for Gloria :). The SIPA is a counter-address to the president's SONA to call attention to the plight of indigenous people, many of whom ten years after the passing of the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act feel their rights exist only on paper. It was an emotional three days for many of the IP's present. It gave them a chance to speak out and to vent their disappointment about the lack of government commitent for indigenous peoples' rights.

The SONA is an important moment in Philippine politics. The president is suppossed to provide the public with objective information about the state of the nation and present new measues to tackle problems. Arroyo's popularity has been in free fall for a long time now and everyone was anxious to hear this year's SONA. Nothwithstanding that, the television broadcast of the SONA first amply focused on the dress of the president and the wives of members of parliament who dress up like moviestars for the occasion. President Arroyo likes a bit of theatre, so during her speech she would have representatives of different population groups stand up and greet the audience. She even got one IP to appear in Congress wearing little more than a piece of cloth to cover his vital parts while thanking her for granting his tribe an ancestral domain title...

Gloria is a peculiar character. She's not a woman of many inches (mubo kaayo siya), but she has a powerful grip on the country and its politics. Her administration has a very bad reputation for being one of the most corrupt in recent history (and believe me, that is saying a lot) and people feel the effects of her import-dependent and export-oriented policy everyday as high prices of food and gasoline hold the population by its throat. Arroyo's middle name 'Macapagal' is therefore sometimes transformed into 'maka-mahal' ("to make expensive"). To be fair, prices are going up everywhere, but the international food and oil crisis hits different nations in different degrees.

Many human rights activists and NGO's are also alarmed by the many extra-judicial killings that took place in recent years. 'GMA' therefore refers not only to the president's initials, but to her whole style of governing. It's difficult for a foreigner to judge the situation in the Philippines but it was certainly interesting to hear the SONA in the presence of Filipinos who are critical of Arroyo's policy. People often feel they are fighting a force they cannot beat, but fortunately a lot of people also believe in the strenghth of their own community resources.